Huntress
by AlexForrest5
Summary: It's been over a year since Dean left Jo at the bar in Duluth. Jo's a hunter now and has accepted that whatever they had is over, but is that really true? A story from a few years ago that I'm now uploading here. Hope you enjoy my work - feedback is super-appreciated, including constructive criticism.
1. Chapter 1

She pulled her blonde hair into a high ponytail, the better to keep it from getting in her face when it was time to fight. After ruffling through her knife collection, she pulled out a short silver one that would serve as her weapon tonight, examining her thin reflection in the blade. When possible, she preferred to use her father's knife, the one that had his initials etched into it and reminded her of why she was doing this. However, she was hunting a shape shifter tonight, meaning she needed silver, not iron. She proceeded to pull on her brown leather jacket, stowing her knife in an inside pocket, and left. Another night, another job… another bout of uncertainty as to whether she'd survive to return to her current motel room – and then leave again to go after another evil son of a bitch somewhere. But she was used to that by now.

A hunter's life was a crazy thing. And she still believed what she had said during her first ever hunt in Philadelphia: you had to be a little twisted to want to do the job. Maybe she was, but she couldn't exactly be blamed for it. She was just a little girl when her heartbroken mother informed her that her father had been killed by some evil creature. That was when it first hit her that monsters were real, and the only defense against them was people who'd decided to take a stand and fight. The older she got, the more she wanted to be a part of it. The knowledge that people were out there risking their lives - sometimes sacrificing them, as her own father had – to hold the line, while she was not allowed to be anything more than a schoolgirl, left her burning on the inside. She couldn't accept it.

During those years, her mother insisted that she was too young. It was too early for her to get involved in something so dangerous. The more overprotective her mother became, the more condescending those macho hunters who wanted to get in her pants were, the more it would incense her, but she tried to live with it. She went to college like everyone. And then, one day, she'd had enough. She was twenty-one years old; the excuse about her being too young couldn't hold anymore. She returned to her mother's roadhouse and worked there for a while to save money. She thought her mom knew what was coming, but preferred to ignore it. When it eventually came up, her mom reacted as expected: anger and an insistence that she couldn't stay at the roadhouse if she had made up her mind to be a hunter. So she left. It was the hardest decision she'd ever had to make, but she did it.

It was a lonely life that she was far from enjoying, though there was grim satisfaction to be had with every evil thing she took down. Her savings from working at the roadhouse wouldn't last forever, so she had to start running credit card scams like some hunters did. The diner food, the dingy motel rooms, the physical and mental exhaustion from the constant battles – it was nothing like the heroic life she'd imagined before getting into it herself. There were still times when she felt like dropping everything and going back to the roadhouse with her tail between her legs, admitting to her mom that she wanted nothing to do with this life anymore; she just wanted to be a normal twentysomething with normal concerns.

But she continued, because one thing hadn't changed, had remained consistent between the little girl in pigtails who had lost her father and the adult woman who was following his path: the reason why she wanted to do it. She couldn't just be a lawyer, doctor or teacher when her dad had died fighting those things out there. She had to take a stand as well, to do what she could in this universal fight against evil. She didn't know if she would do this forever. Maybe one day she wouldn't be able to stand it anymore, or maybe she'd simply find that she didn't feel the need to do it any longer, that she had filled that part of her longing to carry out her dad's legacy. She liked to think that, if he was here, he'd be proud of her, of the choice she'd made and what she had accomplished.

Her lips curled into a thin, bittersweet smile as she remembered the last person who had suggested that her father would be proud of her. They hadn't met in over a year, but it was still pretty difficult to forget him. Their first encounter had been rather awkward – she, thinking he was a threat, pointed a rifle at him and then punched him in the nose – but it wasn't long before she found herself smitten with the handsome, smooth-talking stranger. He was different from all the other hunters who stopped by her mother's saloon, and not only because he was gorgeous. Most of them just saw her as a piece of ass. He seemed to actually be impressed by her. For a while, she got the impression that he was equally smitten with her.

It wasn't long before she realized her mistake, though. He, like everyone else, just saw her as a little girl who was out of her league. He directed the same message at her that they all did: stop trying to be someone you're not, stop trying to play hunter, go back to school and forget about taking on this quest in your father's name. And for some reason, when it came from his mouth, it hurt more. She had believed that he was different, that he'd seen something in her no one else would… no such luck. When she learned that her father's death was partially the fault of _his_ father, she thought she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, but somehow she could never keep her mind off him for too long.

Their last meeting was in a bar in Duluth, when he showed up to save her from his own demonically possessed brother. She ended up saving him right back, pulling him out of a body of freezing water and stitching up his bullet wound, but he was clearly unimpressed - when she wanted to accompany him to go save his brother, he responded that if she tried, he'd "tie [her] right back up to that post and leave [her] [there]". She was furious that he would talk to her that way after what she did for him, but there was no point arguing – he continued to view her as that little girl who couldn't take care of herself, and that was it. So instead, she just gave him pain killers and stayed behind like he wanted. He left the bar with an empty promise to call her, one they both knew he wouldn't keep.

At times, she amused herself with the idea that if he saw her today, he'd be as impressed with her as she originally thought he was. That he would have to admit his mistake – there she was, this capable, bad-ass hunter he had never believed she could become. But she didn't really care what he thought anymore. If she had, if she'd continued to dwell on how little he thought of her, she would never have been able to become a hunter in the first place. By now, she had accepted that their paths were unlikely to cross again, and either way - his opinion of her didn't matter. She'd had to let go of a lot of things to pursue this life. He was just another one of them.

She entered the alleyway as quietly as she could, pulling the knife out of her pocket but keeping it as concealed by her jacket as possible; she didn't want the gleam of silver to give her away in the darkness. Given the locations of the killings that had taken place so far, it stood to reason that the shape shifter would be nearby. Just as she rounded a corner, carefully eyeing her surroundings, her ears picked up on the sound. Footsteps, approaching from where she'd come.

She pressed her body against the wall, holding her breath as she drew out the knife. The footsteps were getting closer, and for some reason it sounded like there were two approaching figures, not one. As she couldn't be sure whether this was the shape shifter, she didn't want to immediately use her knife, but she had to attack to be on the safe side. When she could tell that whoever the footsteps belonged to was about to turn the corner as well, she slunk around it and aimed a kick at the abdomen of one of the figures; there were two indeed.

And then she stopped dead in her tracks, caught entirely off guard. She knew those men, both the brown-haired, exceptionally tall one who was pulling the other one to his feet, and the ever-so handsome one with dark blonde hair and olive eyes, who was gaping at her with equal amounts of surprise.

"Jo?"

"Dean?"

Tbc...


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, I'll be damned," breathed Dean, still staring at Jo like he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

Jo was about to say something in response when she remembered what she was hunting. She couldn't be sure that Sam and Dean were really themselves. She pulled out her phone and turned on the camera, grateful that her actions were partially obscured by shadow. She pointed the phone at the two men to note, with relief, that neither brother's eyes flared on camera. She stepped into the light and offered them a small smile. "So, I guess neither of you guys shed your skin lately."

"No kidding," snapped Dean, before snatching the phone out of her hand. Jo rolled her eyes as he scanned her with the phone for a moment, before handing it back to her, his look of suspicion fading.

"So, wait…" said Sam slowly, realization dawning on his face. "You're working the same job as us?".

"Looks like it," confirmed Jo in a friendly enough tone. "You two read about the three mysterious deaths – "

"- of people who killed their spouses in a happy marriage with no apparent motive, and then committed suicide? Yeah," Sam nodded, "That's got shape-shifter written all over it."

"It is," said Jo, "I pulled the security tape on the second victim, Jane Sheppard – she killed her husband after-hours at the convenience store where he works, and there was a camera flare."

"Nice," Dean interjected, looking rather surprised. "So, you're a hunter now?".

"Pretty much," Jo replied evenly. She got the feeling that he couldn't believe it, and while rather annoyed, she reminded herself that she was supposed to stay indifferent. Dean was not a part of her life anymore, not that he had really been part of it to begin with. This was nothing more than a chance meeting that wasn't going to change anything between them.

For a few moments, nobody said anything. The awkwardness in the air was obvious, but Jo had no idea what to say in order to dispel it.

Thankfully, Sam stepped up to the task. "So, uh, you guys wanna grab something? There's a diner just across the road."

"Sure," Jo agreed easily enough. The three began walking out of the alley, and Jo was pretty sure she heard Dean snarking at his brother, "Nice one, Sammy."

As it was pretty late and none of them was particularly hungry, they decided to just order sodas and a bowl of potato chips. The silence was still rather grating, and Jo decided she had to break it somehow.

"I haven't seen you guys in over a year," she said, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," Sam mumbled awkwardly. "Listen, you're probably not too psyched about seeing me again. I am so sorry about what happened in Minnesota, I tried to fight the demon but I just couldn't – "

"Sam, it's fine," she assured him, while thinking how weird it was that their least uncomfortable topic of conversation was something so horrible. "You were possessed, there was nothing you could have done. It must have been just as awful for you as it was for me."

Sam nodded as a look of understanding passed between them. After a beat, he turned the conversation back to the task at hand. "Anyway, the shape shifters we killed in St. Louis and Milwaukee were – "

"Dude," said Dean through a mouthful of potato chips, "The shape-shifters _I_ killed. Don't steal my thunder, yeah?"

Shaking his head disbelievingly, Sam continued. "They both liked to frame the people they impersonated, and sometimes kill them as well. So I guess this one's just following the MO."

"First time I'm hunting one of those things, but it does make sense, so I'm gonna take your word for it," said Jo, before taking a last sip of her soda. "I think we should go back to the alleys, I wasn't done sweeping them yet."

"Well, look at you two putting the hunt together," Dean said with mock enthusiasm, "Didn't know you were BFF's."

"Hey, what's up with _you_?" said Sam in irritation.

"Nothing, it's just that last time I checked, the three of us don't hunt together, do we? That ghost in Philly was fun and everything, but you and I sort of work alone. No offence, Jo."

"Dean, we're working on the same case, so it kinda makes sense to do it together, you know? It's not like we haven't worked with other hunters before."

"Save it, Sam," Jo interrupted, shooting daggers at Dean with her eyes as she crossed her arms. She thought she'd managed to stop caring about Dean, about what he said and thought about her, but she was wrong. The second he showed up, it was as though their time apart had never taken place; his attitude towards her stung just as much as it had last time. _Damn it._ "Dean doesn't want me to work with you guys because he thinks I'm some half-assed hunter who can't look after herself, and might even get you killed. And you know what? That's fine. Don't do me any favors."

Jo's retort was followed by one of the loudest silences she had ever heard. Dean evidently couldn't take the anger in her eyes, because he eventually looked away. She exchanged looks with Sam, who was pretty lost for words.

Dean ended up being the one to break the silence. "I'm, uh, actually pretty beat, I'm gonna head back to the motel. Pay you back later, Sammy." Without further ado, he stood up and strode out of the diner, leaving Jo and Sam to continue looking at each other awkwardly.

Dean was barely out of the diner when he stopped in his tracks and kicked a street lamp in frustration. He didn't know what was wrong with him; it's wasn't as though he never acted like an asshole, but he usually did it for kicks, not to take out his anger. And why was Jo making him so angry?

He rolled his eyes at himself as he realized. It was the same reason he hadn't called her despite his promise in Duluth, the same reason he'd been unsuccessfully trying to get himself to forget her for over a year now. She got to him in a way no girl had before. He _cared_, which wasn't something he could afford. Working with Jo on the shape-shifter job would make this mess worse; it was out of the question. Frankly, all he wanted now was to retreat to the Impala and get the hell out of this town. Problem was, Jo and his brother insisted on working together, and he'd sooner let the shape-shifter give him a Colombian necktie than tell them the truth about why he was against the idea

"Dean."

He turned around to find Jo unexpectedly standing there with a questioning look. He considered what to say, and decided it would be better to apologize; lashing out in anger again would only highlight the fact that something was bothering him.

"Look, I'm sorry about what I said," he muttered. "I didn't mean to be such a douche bag, it's just that Sam and I are sort of lone wolves, you know? Working with other hunters just makes a mess out of everything."

"It's fine," smiled Jo. "I get it. But there's something I need to show you."

His eyebrow arched in slight surprise. "You mean, about the case? Where's Sam?"

"He's paying the bill, he'll be right out. C'mon."

Curious, Dean followed her into another dark alley. He looked around, but there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. "So… what are we looking for?"

"Take a closer look over there," said Jo, pointing at the far wall. Dean stepped forward to examine the wall, but didn't get very far before a harsh blow landed on the back of his head. _What the - ?_

He collapsed, his skull throbbing painfully. The last thing he saw before passing out was "Jo" grinning triumphantly as her eyes glowed yellow.

Tbc…


	3. Chapter 3

Sam slapped a hand to his forehead and exhaled in frustration. "He's still not answering his damn phone." He proceeded to angrily toss his own cell on the bed.

Jo felt unbearably useless as she stood in the middle of the motel room with her arms crossed. Sam had called her ten minutes before, to inform her that Dean hadn't gone back to the motel as he'd stated, wasn't answering his phone, and had for all intents and purposes fallen off the face of the earth. It wasn't as though Dean wandering off on his own after the awkward conversation at the diner was implausible, but considering that there was a shape-shifter loose in the neighborhood, Sam and Jo were both starting to fear the worst.

Eventually, Jo decided that they needed to be proactive. She'd rather go after the shape-shifter and find out that they had panicked for no reason, than the other way around.

"I don't think we should take chances," she said. "If this thing's got Dean, we need to hunt it down. Right now."

"We've covered most of the alleys between us, and there was nothing there," Sam reminded her. "How are we gonna find it?"

Jo sighed; this was admittedly a roadblock. She started pacing the room in a stubborn attempt to quell her nervousness. "Okay, you and Dean are the shape-shifter experts, not me," she offered somewhat lamely. "Where do they go, when they're not out there killing people?"

"Well, the St. Louis one had some sort of lair down in the sewers," Sam explained. "Might be our best shot." As Jo nodded gamely, he began rummaging through his backpack for an automatic and some silver bullets, which he proceeded to offer her. "Here, you're gonna need these."

Jo quirked an eyebrow in surprise, before pulling out her pure silver dagger and showing it to him. "I'm good, thanks," she said, with an amused and faux-indignant smile.

Sheepishly, Sam returned the grin, before hardening his features and refocusing on the task at hand. "Okay, let's go."

As he began to regain consciousness, the first thing that occurred to Dean was how badly his head was throbbing. When the dark chamber he was in came into focus, he spotted Jo leaning against a pillar, only he knew now she wasn't really Jo.

"Aww man," Dean rasped, unsurprised to learn that his movements were restricted by tight ropes, "I'm sore all over. You've so got it coming, you crazy-ass bitch."

The shape-shifter smirked before sauntering over to Dean. "Sorry for the inconvenience. But don't worry, it's gonna be over soon, since you won't be alive much longer. See, that's what happens when hunters show up to break up all my fun."

"Well, you want me, you've got me," he spat in contempt. "Any particular reason I'm not dead yet?"

She shook her head condescendingly. "Don't underestimate me, Dean. I know you're not here alone… so now you're bait for your brother _and_ your little girlfriend. Gotta say I'm digging her skin, by the way."

Dean was about to toss another retort in her direction before stopping dead in his tracks, confused. "What the hell do you mean, my girlfriend? I haven't even seen that girl in a year."

"Again with the thinking I'm stupid," she protested in a sing-songy voice. "I'm starting to get offended. Have you forgotten that I can see inside her head? I know she's all hung-up on you… has been ever since you two love birds met." She let out a giggle before bending down to look Dean straight in the eye. "She never got over how you left, she just pretends to be all bad-ass. Deep down, she still wants you to sweep her off her feet."

Dean was panicking at this information, though he wasn't even sure why. "That's _crap_," he snarled, but couldn't completely keep the uncertainty out of his voice. "Jo and I are over. We weren't even together to begin with, for God's sake!"

"Really?" the shape-shifter needled, amused. "Doth protest too much, if you ask me. But we'll found out what_you_ think about her soon enough, if you catch my meaning."

His eyes widened in fear that he was unable to suppress, as he realized what she was about to do.

Their flashlights illuminating the tunnels, Jo and Sam carefully walked through them, alert to every noise and movement around them. Both were clutching a flashlight in one hand and their weapon in the other. When they reached a fork, Sam's eyes darted from left to right in an attempt to decide where to go.

"We should split up," noted Jo, reading his mind.

"No way," Sam said firmly. "This is too dangerous, Jo."

"_I can take care of myself_," she insisted, all but throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Besides, we don't have all night! Dean could already be dead."

Sam grumbled, most likely searching for a counter argument, but finding none and realizing there was indeed no time to waste. "Fine," he sighed reluctantly after a beat. "But watch your back. And remember, this thing can look like any of us, so if you see me again…"

"Keep my guard up," she nodded. "Got it. Sam, be careful, too." They lingered for another moment or two, exchanging concerned looks, before Jo headed to the left tunnel and Sam to the right one.

After several minutes, she suddenly heard Dean's voice. "Sam? Jo? You guys there?" Quickly flipping her head around, she realized there was a small chamber to her left, its door slightly open. She strode over to the door and pulled it open with some effort; Dean was indeed inside, tied to a pole.

"Oh, thank God," he groaned as he saw her.

Jo made her way over to him, casting wary glances around the enclosed space all the while. "Dean, are you okay?" she bent down to cut him free – only to realize the rope was loosely placed on Dean's torso, not actually holding him in place at all.

"Now that you mention it…" Dean grinned, before springing up and grabbing Jo by the neck, "I'm just fine."

Gun drawn, Sam entered a small chamber, his heart skipping a beat when his flashlight revealed a figure slumped against a stone pillar. However, he quickly determined that it was Dean, who looked relieved to see him and yet alarmed.

"Well, it's about friggin' _time_!" he whined.

"You're welcome, Dean," Sam volleyed back while quickly untying his brother.

"Wait, where's Jo? Is she back at the motel?" demanded Dean.

"No, she's here looking for you, too… what's going on?" Sam wondered, tossing the ropes aside.

"We gotta find her," Dean stated, immediately pulling himself up and racing out of the chamber without an explanation, Sam following him in confusion.

"Dean" pinned Jo against a wall, smiling maniacally. "Damn, I was hoping it would be you. I got to meet your lover boy while wearing your skin, and now I'm doing it the other way around. Pretty sweet, right?"

Gasping for breath, Jo struggled to pull the shape-shifter's hands away from her throat. "What the hell do you want?"

"Well, to kill all you hunters, of course," he replied with a small head tilt, "But first, I thought I should let you know… he's just as broken up about losing you. God, it's almost like a Greek tragedy or something."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, still struggling in vain.

The shape-shifter grinned again. "What kind of hunter are you, huh? You don't know that once I'm in someone's skin, I can download their thoughts? Access all their memories? That's right, you were an open book to me. And now Dean is. I know that you never got over him, and he never got over you. And I know he's so…" he seemed to be searching for the right word. "_Scared_ to own up to how he feels about you. That's just sad, isn't it?"

He was tightening his grip on her neck. Almost at the point of suffocation, Jo realized she wouldn't be able to pull his hands off her; he was too strong. Changing tactics, she allowed her head to loll backwards, as if he had successfully strangled her, before slamming it into his skull with as much strength as she could muster. The head-butting caused him to drop her and stagger backwards, surprised.

"Why, you little bitch…" he gasped, rubbing his temple in pain. "Didn't know you had it in you. But that's okay… it's gonna be more fun this way."

Jo eyed her knife, which had fallen out of her grasp and slid several feet away. She made a run for it, but the shape-shifter was faster and knocked her out of the way. He kicked the knife aside. She was back on her feet in a flash, however, and delivered a right hook to his face. Growling in anger, he punched her right back, hard enough to knock her back down to the floor. Her whole body was in pain now, but she would not give in. In a quick motion, she swept the shape-shifter's feet from underneath him, taking him down for the count as well.

He seemed momentarily dazed; this was her chance. She scrambled over to her knife, inch by inch, and had just wrapped her fingers around the handle when she felt his hand seize her ankle in a pincer-like grip. He was starting to pull her towards him, a look of rage in his eyes.

With the last of her strength, Jo kicked him hard in the face with her other leg, causing him to loosen his grip. Wasting not a millisecond, she raised the silver knife and plunged it deep into his chest.

He cried out in pain, before becoming silent and immobile, and slumping to the ground lifeless. The sight of a dead body with Dean's face, even if it wasn't really him, horrified her and she was forced to look away, only now starting to catch her breath.

A minute or two later, the sound of footsteps behind her caused Jo to whip her head around. Sam and the real Dean were standing at the entrance, gaping at her.

"So now there's another dead me out there," Dean muttered eventually, "Fantastic."

Tbc…


	4. Chapter 4

Daylight had never looked more beautiful to Jo than the following morning, as she examined its reflection in the Impala's sleek black hood. She didn't know much about cars, but she still had to admire Dean's – and how well he took care of it.

"There you go," Sam announced, arriving with three cups of coffee and handing two to Dean and Jo.

"Thanks," she smiled. "How much do I owe you?"

"This one's on us, you did take down the shape-shifter," he offered affably enough. A quiet moment passed before he added, "It was really nice to see you again. We should do this more often."

"'This' as in 'almost get killed by monsters together'?" she queried, and both of them laughed. Even Dean chuckled.

"Well, that's our lives for you," Sam admitted with a grin, "So basically, yeah." Uncomfortable silence settled between them again, and Sam looked from Jo to Dean before finally stating, "You know what, I'm gonna go for a walk, give you guys some time to hash things out." With a significant glance in Dean's direction, he began to walk away.

Jo hesitantly looked at Dean, who was still avoiding eye contact. She decided she had to break the ice.

"Listen…" she began tentatively. "We both know what the shape-shifter said. So we can ignore it, or we can try to talk about it."

He heaved a beleaguered sigh. "I don't really know what to say, Jo." He did finally meet her eyes, however.

"Okay, then I'll start," she said carefully. "When I met you, Dean, I sort of fell head over heels for you. You were so different from all those other hunters. And I thought that to you, maybe I was different from all the other girls you meet. But then I realized that you thought I was just a little girl who didn't know anything about hunting, and… it hurt. What a lot of people said never mattered to me, but what you said did." She paused and exhaled slowly. "I'm not the same girl you first met, Dean, I'm not even the same one you saw in Duluth a year ago, but… what I feel about you, that didn't change. It's just something I learned to live with."

Now it was her turn to look away in embarrassment. She hadn't thought she would ever open up to anyone, least of all Dean himself, about this subject; but somehow, it was relieving to have finally let it out.

"I – I didn't know that," he mumbled, clearly not really knowing what to say.

"You know what," she shook her head to herself, "There's just one thing I need to ask you. It's stupid and probably pointless, but I have to ask. After you left, why didn't you call? You could have at least told me Sam was okay, something, anything… I didn't _think_ you would call, but I hoped you would."

Dean bit his lip before he began talking, his eyes downcast. "If you think I didn't like you, Jo, you're nine kinds of crazy. I _really_ liked you. But I…. I couldn't do it."

"Do what?"

"Be around you all the time and know that I cared about you that much and have to pretend like I didn't!" he clarified, agitated.

"But why pretend?" she protested, unable to understand. "Why couldn't you just tell me? Why did you have to leave and not even call?"

He looked back at her, harrowed. "Jo, you know what our job is like. We don't get to have any people in our lives, unless they're driving around in a car with us all day. And until I met you, I was fine with it… Sam and I would drive into a town, I would meet some hot chick, turn on the charm, we'd have ourselves a little roll in the hay, and that was it. I knew I would never get to have more and I made peace with it." He fell silent momentarily. She waited anxiously for the rest of his words. "But then I met you, and you were special. It's just like you said, you weren't like all the other girls. And I wanted to have more than just a one-night stand, but I knew I _couldn't_ – whatever I tried to start with you, my brother and I would just leave sooner or later. So all I could do was shut you off, stay away, try to get rid of that feeling… didn't work, though."

Even after what the shape-shifter had revealed to her down in the sewers, Jo had not expected to hear this. She didn't know how to respond. And she had to consider that if what he felt for her was so different than she'd imagined, maybe she shouldn't let this chance slip away.

"Dean…" she said slowly, "I know it's hard, but… we don't have to be completely lonely, right? We can at least try to make this work."

His lips quivered. "No, I don't think so, Jo. Not because of you, not even because of the job, it's just… I'm not gonna be around for much longer anyway."

Her face fell. "What are you talking about?"

He didn't immediately answer. The reply seemed to take a serious toll on him. "Do you know about the crossroads demon?"

"Yeah," she nodded, having read some lore and heard some stories. Apparently, there was a demon people could summon at a crossroads to make deals with – whatever the person wanted, in exchange for their soul in ten years' time.

"Well, I sold my soul," he said a choked voice, barely letting out the words. "It was a stupid thing to do, but there's no turning back now. I'm a goner."

Her face contorted in shock, that quickly melted into anger on Dean's behalf. "_What?_ Why would you do something like that?!"

"For Sammy," he confessed, tears now forming in the corners of his eyes. "The yellow-eyed demon set up some competition between all the psychic kids, and one of them killed Sam to win, the same one who opened the devil's gate in Wyoming. I had to bring him back, Jo… my father told me to watch out for him, no matter what, and I just let him get killed."

"It wasn't your fault," she insisted, horrified by what she was hearing.

"Doesn't matter now," he shook his head. "It's all over."

"_No_. We've got what, over nine years? We'll ask anyone who knows about crossroads deals. There has to be a way to get you out of this."

Dean let out a bitter laugh, the tears trickling down his face now. "She didn't give me ten years, Jo, she gave me _one_. In four months, I'm off to Hell."

She stared at him, unable to comprehend this reality, unable to believe. Dean was going to die in four months, and rot in Hell forever.

"Besides, Sam and I have already tried everything," he added, "Nobody knows anything about breaking deals. We think the only way that might work, is if we kill the demon that holds my contract, but we don't know who that is and we don't know how to kill him anyway. Like I said… it's too late."

The silence stretched between them, for how long Jo didn't know. Eventually, she reached for Dean's face to pull him in for a kiss. He was surprised but went along with it. Jo _wasn't_ surprised to note how soft and dreamy his lips were, or that he was a really great kisser.

When they pulled away, she looked deep into his eyes and promised, "I'm gonna do everything I can to figure out how to save you. I don't care if it's impossible. As long as you're here, I'm gonna try."

With a sad but grateful smile, he pulled her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him, surprised at how natural it felt, given that they hadn't seen each other for so long and were still butting heads just last night. Being in Dean's arms just felt _right_.

"So, uh, am I back too soon?" came Sam's awkward voice, and Jo let go of Dean to catch the younger Winchester's bashful expression.

"Sort of, but we'll let you off the hook," said Dean, being a good sport about the whole thing and clapping Sam on the back.

"Right, so… bye, Jo," Sam offered, touching her shoulder briefly before entering the Impala's passenger seat.

Jo didn't know what to say, since she knew deep down that for all the bravado, these could be her last words to Dean.

"Dean…" she muttered, hesitant. "Call me, okay?"

He smiled sadly again. "I will." He then leaned in for another kiss, this one shorter, gentler, but also more confident. She trailed her fingers down his neck affectionately before he pulled away. Finally, looking for the world like it was the most enormous effort he'd ever known, he turned his back on her to enter the car and start it.

Her eyes resting on the Impala until it had vanished into the horizon, Jo pondered how, this time, she actually believed Dean would keep his word.

Four months had gone by in the blink of an eye. Jo worked a few cases, but the bulk of her attention was devoted to Dean's deal. She had pored over ancient tomes, spoken to everyone she could think of, and still there didn't appear to be any way to break the contract. She had resigned herself to what Dean had said, that the only solution would be to hunt down the contract holder, but she hadn't managed to ascertain the identity of said demon, either.

The night before Dean's last, Jo lay idly on the bed in her current motel room, feeling defeated. She had not managed to find any way to help Dean, meaning he was about to die, and he had not called her like he'd promised. It appeared as if their meeting during the shape-shifter hunt had not really been as meaningful as she had wanted to believe.

Suddenly, Jo's phone rang.

Bolting upright, she scrambled over to the nightstand, where the phone was. Sure enough, the caller ID was "Dean Winchester."

Dean had some surprising news. They had finally discovered the identity of the demon who held his deal. It was Lilith, the new leader of Hell, whom Jo had heard about from another hunter recently; she just hadn't assumed there would be any connection to Dean's deal. What was more, Dean revealed that they had tracked Lilith down – to New Harmony, Indiana - and stolen a special demon-killing knife that could end her. With just over 24 hours to go, they had one last chance.

When Jo stated that she would be coming to Indiana, too, Dean initially protested. He knew exactly how dangerous Lilith was, and was reluctant to even let Sam near her, let alone Jo. But Jo's resolve was unyielding; she would not stand by and wait for the results of the battle over Dean's soul. She would be a part of it.

Packing her belongings as quickly as possible, since she had a long ride ahead of her, Jo left the motel without bothering to check out. Her steely determination being all she needed to take on this dangerous mission, she entered her car and drove off to save the man she loved.

- End


End file.
